Tangerine Peel
- Soft Delights1970RCA LSA 3002
Track List: Side 1: Cindy Lou / Soft Delights / Goodnight
To The Night / Long, Long Ride / What Am I To Do.
Side 2: Talkin' 'Bout A New Day / Jeanie, Jeanie, Jeanie / To Judi
/ Leave Me Now / Moments I Recall.
Review:Often considered pedestrian by psych fans, the
so far un-reissued Soft Delights is actually an interesting album.
Two or three years on from 'Trapped', 'Every Christian Lion Hearted
Man' and 'Solid Gold Mountain', the album had a different feel to
these rightly revered pop-psych gems. It is in fact a strange mixture
or configuration of pop rock and piano balladry. Mainstay of the band
Mike Chapman wrote eight of the albums songs and co-wrote one other.
It almost sounds as if Chapman wrote the rock and pop numbers as camouflage
to sneak in his slower piano ballads, as they don't fit that well.
The three ballads comprise a long extemporised number on 'Goodnight
To The Night', and a shorter one 'What Am I To Do' on Side 1 and 'To
Judi' on Side 2. I don't have anything against such songsmithery and
they are pleasant enough in themselves, but they also sound rather
mannered and as if this is what Chapman at this point was most interested
in.
However, a fourth number which ends Side 2 'Moments I Recall' is a
perfect example of the genre and has a definite Fading Yellow quality,
a Mike Battishness about it, mid paced with a rolling rhythm and atmospheric
sound and ambience.

Elsewhere,
both 'Cindy Lou' and 'Jeanie Jeanie Jeanie' are great pop rock numbers
with fuzzy rhythm guitars and good slide guitar work (especially
on 'Jeanie...'). These remind me very much of Dave Edmund's Rockpile
and have definite proto-glam rock undercurrents to them. The title
track is a dream pop rocker and along with the two aforementioned
numbers could easily sit on the recent Velevet Goldmine collection
of junkshop glam.
If Cindy Lou was pointing to The Sweet a la Blockbuster, then the
title track was pointing slightly backwards to The Sweet's late
60s period. The standout track for me is 'Long, Long Ride' which
is an excellent late 60s rock number that could easily grace a volume
of Rubble and harks back strongly to their 67-8 era singles. 'Talkin'
'Bout A New Day' is a great mid paced number again utilising slide
guitar and a fuzz guitar riff, but employing an excellent light
and shade approach and is very enjoyable. Lastly, 'Leave Me Now'
is another very proto 70s glam pop sounding number with a 'toy-town'
chorus which again has echoes of the groups earlier period..

Overall, not
a classic by any stretch of the imagination, but certainly not dull.
It does lack in production soemwhat. In a number of cases the very
substantial sounding guitar and drum axis is mixed too low and the
vocal sounds too loud in comparison, but then you would need to
know the full story of the albums recording to understand why that
might be.

Apart from being an enjoyable album (although personally I find
the three main piano ballads a bit wearing), this is an excellent
document of how musical styles were changing at the cusp of a new
decade and implying what (commercially) they would soon become.

Reviewed by
Paul Martin - April 2003

Tangerine Zoo - Outside Looking In1968
Mainstream

Review:Tangerine Zoo was a talented group from Newport, Rhode Island. They came together in the late 1967 and were rising fast in the Boston music scene, well-known as an exellent live band. Unfortunately the group released only two albums (on the Mainstream label) - a somewhat eclectic Tangerine Zoo - S/T (1967) and a more psychedelic Outside Looking In (1968) . The second album didn`t have much success and the band broke up, what is really pity as they would have developed very interestingly if they had remained together. The potential for moving into deep psychedelia or even prog is quite evident on their second album which delivers a "classic" psychedelic mesh of styles: elements of pop, jazz, garage and orchestrated psych are present on almost every track. At the same time Outside Looking In manages to retain a stylistic constinence, hold together by mighty omnipresent keyboards and a brilliant drum section. It is a strong, enjoyable album in a difficult genre, quite "unhardrocky", driven by the absolutely phantastic organ, full of trippy instumental breaks, strong acid guitar and beautiful chorus harmonies: a blend of proto prog and orchestrated pop psych.
I would compare this opus to the Strictly From Hunger album, both bands have similarities concerning their music style and carrierre (as The Hunger split up after their first release), though i find Outside Looking In a way more symphonic with it`s pictorial, weirdly structured arrangements.
The singer Tony Tavares had left the group before the second album was recorded, so it lacks a strong, charismatic lead vocal, what is one of my main reservations, along with a somewhat unfinished feel the album has to it. But this is all i have to complain about on this good, interesting record.

The album opens with a short instrumental tune, subtle at the beginning, with the drums imitating clock ticking. But very soon it becomes intensly menacing, driven by hypnotic guitar lines and echoey vibrating organ, the tempo getting faster and faster, increasing the tension, climaxing with a sudden baby cry - Birth.
Track two - Like People - is quite different. It`s an up-tempo tune, fast and catchy, but already here you hear a trade mark of this album: sudden pace and style changes which are intermingled amongst every track, so that you dont`t know what the sound is going to do next.
In this particular case the song becomes more slow, getting almost waltz-like, but then returns quickly to the up-tempo beat again - a funny and fascinating interplay.
The next song is Wake Up Sun - an exellent, truly psychedelic tune, full of joy and vitality, jumping off with some hard fuzz guitar runs followed by a killer chorus which repeats the line "Wake Up Sun" like an euphoric evocation. It has a strange but yet awesome rhythmic structure and stunning instrumental breaks that are overflowing with the brilliant haunting drums, almost Prunes-like blistering atonal guitar solos and totally mind-blowing swirling mad organ.
This gem of a song is followed by a wonderful Moody Blues cover Another Morning - a beautiful fresh and uplifing track with quite complex orchestration. It contains loads of relentless ecstatic organ work that rolls over a listener like a huge ocean wave.
Track five is another strong, fascinating song - Confusion. It starts off with a spoken word followed by pace and style breaks. The tune has an astonishing instrumental passage in the middle, brimming with interesting interplays of blistering guitar, weird rhythmus, psychedelic sound effects and furious vibrating organ.

The next song You I Love has a mellow melodic start, flowing like a slow river, with nice soft guitar and sweet chorus harmonies...only to surprise a listener with fast, stormy passages full of frenzied piercing organ swirls.
Track seven Further Down The Road is my favorite on this album.
This tune consists of straight up-tempo parts skillfully contrapointed by the dreamy refraine. The song culminates in an instrumental break featuring delicious acid guitar and amasing organ a-la Hunger.
Can`t You See is a quite slow tune, carring a sad melancholic vibe.
The last and the longest track on this album - Young Dream - sparks with a very interesting, almost jazzy drum section. Mind-melting sound effects and hypnotic bass chords are outstanding, but the highlight on this 9 minutes long track is an absolutely trippy extended instrumental break, spiked with weird time structures, sonic trickery and astonishing keybords-drums-blistering lead guitar interplays, accentuated by nice chorus harmonies.
I am sure everybody who digs The Hunger will like this album a lot.
It has a nice loving feel to it and is a really interesting sample of the late sixties transition form garage and beat into psychedelia and progressive rock.

These Trails – S/T
1973Track listing:These Trails,
Our House In Hanalei,
Of Broken Links,
El Rey Pescador,
Psyche I,
Share Your Water,
Hello Lou,
Rusty's House,
Los In Space,
Psyche II,
Sowed A Seed,
Rapt Attention,
Waipoo,
Garden Botanum.
Review:Other than owning a handful of albums by Donovan, The Incredible String Band and Vashti Bunyan to name a few, I’ll admit that psychedelic folk is a genre I’ve really not yet fully explored. So full credit goes out to Sidwren’s championing of the These Trails album on the Pooterland Lounge for switching me onto this hidden gem of psychedelia. Otherwise this one would have gone unnoticed for me.

Working with an arsenal of acoustic and slide guitar, dulcimer, recorder, sitars, tabla and vintage Arp analogue synthesizer, lead vocalists and main song writing core of Margaret Morgan and Patrick Cockett crafted an album imbued with the atmosphere of the Pacific island paradise that birthed it.
The Fuzz Acid and Flowers entry makes a comparison to The Incredible String Band. I'd only go with that in the sense that both bands made psychedelic folk, the comparison stops there I think. Although I love the ISB’s seminal mix of Celtic and Eastern styles, personally I’d argue that These Trails' brand of psychedelia was something completely unique to themselves, and light-years away, both stylistically and geographically from ISB. The lysergic textures of These Trails are mainly generated by the innovative interplay of the guitars with the synthesizers and the clever multi-tracked vocal arrangements that use Margaret Morgan's amazing vibrato and often, discordant vocal style. In this respect Morgan’s vocals bear resemblance to Liz Fraser from the Cocteau Twins to these ears. Sometimes I also hear shades of Kate Bush even. What is very notable is how the album has the remarkable ability to carry off throwing in deeply psychedelic, alien sounding tracks ("Of Broken Links", "Share Your Water", "Sowed a Seed") amongst the more traditional folk compositions ("Our House in Hanalei", "Rusty's House", "Rapt Attention") without any compromise to its coherence.
Everything fits and flows perfectly where other albums might end up just sounding disjointed. This characteristic attention to detail is not just reflected in the ordering of the tracks but typifies the musicianship throughout. For example "Psyche" is a beautiful reprised acoustic guitar track, the first of which is more stripped down. However, on the second version, with some very subtle use of echo and delay on the strings and some synth embellishments the track becomes something decidedly more cosmic. It would be extremely difficult to pick out a single standout track from the album. The set needs to be played as a whole without a break. Each track captivates, whether it be the pidgin Hawaiian styling on "Our House In Hanalei", the haunting funereal tones of "Of Broken Links", the morphing synths of "Share Your Water", the swooning male/female harmonising on "Hello Lou" and "Garden Botanum" and the joyous melodies of "Rusty's House" and "Rapt Attention". If I was asked what my favourite track on the album was I’d probably go for the out and out trip that is “Share Your Water”.

Whether you’re into folk or not but want to sample earthy yet otherworldly psychedelia this is one album that sure delivers on all fronts.

Submitted by Beautiful Daze - April 2004

The Times - This Is London

1982

Artpop
ART 19

Track List

This
Is London, Goodbye Picadilly, Whatever Happened To Thamesbeat, If
only, Big Painting, Goodnight Children Everywhere, The Party, Stranger
Than Fiction, Theres A Cloud Over Liverpool, Will Success Spoil
Frank Summit, The Chimes Of Big Ben, This Green And Pleasant Land.

I'm Five Years
Ahead Of My Time, Lose Your Mind, Rainbow Life, Dawn Of Tomorrow,
I Can Understand Your Problem, Rainbow Life (Alternate Version)

Review:

"I'm looking
somewhere for a new dimension, I'm leaving it all so far behind, Don't
waste any time girl, step inside my mind...I'm five years ahead of
my time". From the opening lines of The Third Bardo's awesome
garage psych single of 1967, one knew trouble was brewing inside the
youth of America. The barriers that seperated them from their parents
generation couldn't have been pulled further apart. Later in the song
Jeff Monn sings, "I'm doing exactly what I want to, Society can't
play with my mind"- this is a true wake up call that these guys
were out-a-site and from outer space. "Five Years..." is
one of the classic cuts that emerged out of the underground 60's.
Five Years ahead? Hell, was this really recorded in 1967? This is
a brilliant garage psych burner and no doubt most people will only
know the band through this one song.
However, as good as this track is, they also cut a handful of others
that were equally as good as their first nugget.
Thanks to Sundazed for unearthing these lost tracks and giving them
the spotlight they so deserve, we are now re-introduced to this bloody
excellent NYC band. Vocals that shriek, guitars that glide in and
out of "another dimension" and a bass line that pulsates
like a heartbeat, The Third Bardo had it all and then in a flash,
they were gone. Their cover of Rusty Evans' (from The Deep) "Rainbow
Life" is just as awesome as their first single. It was in fact
originally released as the B-Side to "Five Years". Imagine,
being a teenager in 1967 and coming home with this 45! Woah! It must
have blown people away for better or worse.
Also worth mentioning is the 1980's Rhode Island band Plan 9 who do
a killer version of "Five Years Ahead of My Time".

Reviewed by BlueMagoo - 20th September 2002

Titus Groan - Titus Groan

1970

Dawn
(DNLS 3012)

Track List:

It
wasn't for you, Hall of bright carvings: i) Theme, ii) In the dusty
high-Vaulted hall, iii) The burning, iv) The theme, Liverpool, I
can't change, It's all up with us, Fuschia.

This Angry Silence,
The Glittering Prizes, World Of Pauline Lewis, A Family Affair, Silly
Girl, Diary Of A Young Man, Geoffrey Ingram, I Know Where Syd Barrett
Lives, Jackanory Stories, Parties In Chelsea, La Grande Illusion,
A Picture Of Dorian Gray, The Crying Room, Look Back In Anger.

Stop
and Smell The Roses, The Painted Word, A Life of Her Own, Bright
Sunny Smiles, Mentioned In Despatches, A sense of Belonging, Say
You wont Cry, Someone to Share My Life With, You’ll Have to Scream
Louder, Happy All the Time, The Girl Who Had Everything, Paradise
Estate, Back To Vietnam.

Review:

Dan
Treacy still has the ability to write haunting, evocative lyrics
backed by the distinct TVP’s sound. Alan McGee sleeve notes quote
‘The Painted Word, alongside Big Star’s ‘Sisters Lovers’ and any
one of Nick Drake’s LPs, is one of the best emotionally introspective
LPs I’ve ever heard. Dan Treacy’s songs tear me apart......’. The
TVP’s are lost on many people and often misinterpreted (IMO), but
for fans of the band (and there are many) this is classic stuff
indeed. There is a ‘hidden’ track on the CD which could easily be
several years earlier than other tracks here. Powerful stuff......

This
is it! The first ever psychedelic album, released in mid-1966. ‘You’re
Gonna Miss Me.’ had earlier been a hit single, the most obvious
hook being its peculiar wobbling noise, produced by Tommy Hall on
‘electric jug’, but that could have been passed off as just another
garage band hit. The album, though, came packaged in a garishly
colourful sleeve with a cosmic eye and pyramid in the centre, sleeve
notes praising the drug-induced psychedelic experience, identifying
the ‘quest for pure sanity’, and contained ten more chunks of superb
rocking psychedelic music. Practically every track includes the
bizarre jug sound; there are wailing falsetto backing vocals; circular,
repetitive guitar licks and well-crafted blues-tinged solos from
Stacy Sutherland grace every song. It has an ambience of being recorded
in the depths of some gigantic cavern, and above all, it features
the magnificent voice of Roky Erickson. Robert Plant is well known
to be a fan and after hearing this album, the evidence is clear
that Roky has been a major influence (along with Janis Joplin) on
one of rock’s greatest voices.

Roky’s great vocal influences were Little Richard and James Brown,
and his falsetto wails, grunts and howls make these influences apparent.
There’s also that same gritty edge that characterises early Captain
Beefheart, though Roky sticks to a higher register than the Captain.
The lyrics are outstanding too. ‘Her eyes are filled with coral
snakes and liquid plastic castles’ fits perfectly in with the metre
on "You Don’t Know," for example. They are not all
imagery-laden, poetic extravagance though. "You’re Gonna Miss
Me" is classic pop two and a half-minute simplicity, threatening
and full of anger.
Other stand-out tracks are: ‘Roller Coaster’ - driving acid-rock
with great soloing from Stacy Sutherland, ‘Reverberation (Doubt)’
– feedback and thudding bass, ‘Thru The Rhythm’ – great syncopated
beat, - ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ – a slower, more blissful song with
sliding "oohs" replacing Tommy Hall’s usual scat vocals
and a fantastic wail from Roky at the end.

The Elevators made three more albums, of which ‘Easter Everywhere’
is the best; ‘Bull Of The Woods,’ though patchy, has its moments.
Practically everything worthwhile has been collected on the ‘His
Eye Is On The Pyramid’ CD. Roky, plagued over the years by mental
instability, has had a long but sporadic solo career and his albums
are well worth investigating. They are full of zombies, vampires,
fire demons and B-movie horror imagery. The music is dark, foreboding,
loudrock ‘n’ roll. And
the voice, still, is just amazing.

Slip
Inside This House, Slide Machine, She Lives in a Time of her Own,
Nobody To Love, Its All Over Now, Earthquake, Dust, Ive Got Levitation,
I had to tell You, Postures.

Review:

Possibly
the best Elevators album due to the inclusion of the eternal classic
Slip Inside My House. A slightly different sound than ‘Sounds Of’,
more laid back but still awesome all the same. Perhaps the only
weak spot is the Dylan cover, It’s All Over Now Baby Blue.

Livin
On, Scarlet And Gold, Barnyard Blues, Street Song, Till Then, Dr.
Doom,Never Another, With You, Rose And The Thorn, May The Circle
Remain Unbroken, Down By The River.

Review:

Released
during Roky Erickson's forced psychiatric hospitalisation, "Bull
of The Woods" is far more of a collectors item and curiosity
than a great rock album. Erickson can be heard on only three songs;
the annoyingly overrated "May The Circle Remain Unbroken"
as well as "Livin' On"and "Never Another". The rest of the record seems to be a Stacy Sutherland vehicle.
Sutherland was, by all accounts, a volatile and troubled soul. Sadly,
however, this did not translate into brilliant-or even interesting-songwriting.
"Dr.Doom", "Barnyard Blues", and "Street
Song" are typical of the release; banal, trite, and right at
home in the early 70's cut out bins of yore.
"Bull of The Woods" was an extremely disappointing swan
song from one of the finest musical groups in any genre. It's almost
worth owning anyway, if not for Roky's three songs then for the
hilariously bad cover art.

Before
You Accuse Me, She Lives In A Time Of Her Own, Tried To Hide, You
Gotta Take That Girl, I'm Gonna Love You Too, Everybody Needs Somebody
To Love, I've Got Levitation, You Cant Hurt Me Anymore, Roller Coaster,
Youre Gonna Miss Me.

Well,
this certainly is psychedelic music at it's peak. I think EMI signed
these guys in the height of psychedelia, hoping they'd sell as much
as Barrett and his Pink Floyd. All these great songs are heavily
psychedelic, in the tradition of LP's like Piper at the gates of
dawn and The Beatles psychedelic period. Once you get past the minor "we wanna be beatles" vibe of the album,
you can really,*really* enjoy this. Tomorrow were originally
"The In-Group", and were one of those bands that changed
to become whatever was popular at the time. Tomorrow never made
it very big, and nobody really knows why. All the dynamics were
there, and the music was certainly good enough.....maybe it was
because the album was released too late in the 60's. Still, there
are some real gems in here. "My White Bicycle" should
have been a hit, with it's backwards tape and psychedelic lyrics,
and "Revolution" sounds like it was waiting to become
a 60's anthem; and it should have become one, too....it's wah-wah
chorus is electric.

Tomorrow broke up soon after this LP was released when Keith West
released a solo single and it became a hit. This apparently angered
the others in the band to a great degree. Suddenly it was "Tomorrow
featuring Keith West", and that was never going to happen.
Twink and Junior went on to become "The Aquarian Age"
and had a hit with their brilliant "10,000 words in a cardboard
box", a song written bitterly towards their former band mate,
Keith West.
There really are some sparks of brilliance in this album, and I
encourage everyone to take Tomorrow's advice and 'Have your
own little revolution, NOW!'

You
can all join in, Pearly queen, Don't be sad, Who knows what tomorrow
may bring, Feelin' alright, Vagabond virgin, Forty thousand headmen,
Cryin' to be heard, No time to live, Means to an end.

Review:

Although
not a tie-dyed in the wool psychedelic album, "Traffic" is still a very good release by a very good band.

The strongest tracks are the Dave Mason compositions - "All
Join In", "Feeling Alright", "Vagabond Virgin"
and "Crying to be Heard".
The first pair of songs are nice, whimsical '60s pop tunes, "All
join in" especially. It's a wonderful, optimistic sing-along
written in the spirit of the Beatles' "All You need is Love".
"Crying to be Heard" is another gem. A mournful song that
nonetheless builds to a dramatic climax, it's very reminiscent of
Procol Harum at their best. Chris Wood's sax provides
a nice intro to the song.
The rest of the songs, mostly composed by Steve Winwood, are good,
but remain more wedded to blues and r&b than psychedelia. They
are good, but only "40,000 Headmen" is a real stand-out.
All told, "Traffic" is a rather pleasing album. Not a
classic, but definitely enjoyable. The contrast between Mason's
and Winwood's songs illustrates the conflict that is said to have
existed between these two exceptional musicians. And while such
conflict can
sometimes produce spectacular results, or even just provide a nice
balance in mood and style, here it just shows the writers' differences.
Out of five stars, "Traffic" gets three and a half.

In
it's original LP form, side A featured studio tracks and side B
carried a pair of live recordings - kind of like Cream's "Goodbye"
album, which came out about a year later (but with the live stuff
on side A). Unlike "Goodbye" though, "Last Exit" is a fairly solid album featuring some of Traffic's best (though
perhaps least appreciated) songs ever.
The opener, "Just for You", is (I think) guitarist Dave
Mason's only song on the album. But what a song. It's easily the
band's most psychedelic offering with some lovely flute work by
Chris Wood and some perfectly complementary indian tabla percussion.
It perfectly encapsulates English psychedelia's penchant for using
non-rock instruments, without falling into "Sgt. Pepper" -like overkill.
Steve Winwood is in strong form on the rest of the studio tracks.
The second song, "Shanghai Noodle Factory" is a funny
non-sensical offering with vaguely acidic overtones and a joy to
listen to. Next up is the instrumental "Something got ahold
of my toe". Very
energetic. A dual guitar showcase with, most likely, Winwood and
Mason showing off their picking skills, this is a very up-tempo
rocker that's sure to please.

Toning down the mood a bit is "Whithering Tree". It employs
sound effects that are slightly reminiscent of those used by Syd
Barrett on Pink Floyd's classic "Piper at the gates of dawn" album. Said effects are used very sparingly, but they add nicely
to the song.
The closing tune "Medicated Goo" returns to the sound
of "Shanghai Noodle Factory" but takes it further. Even
more tongue in cheek, this song showed up later on Traffic's live
"Welcome to the Canteen" album. But this studio version
is the version to hear. They play
at a smooth mid-tempo pace and the lyrics are sung with jolly, carefree
gusto.

Now comes the bad news. The songs on the live side, "Feeling
Good" and "Blind Man" are a letdown. The sound quality
is less than first-rate and Steve Winwood's vocals are less than
prominent. Although "Feeling Good" does feature a killer
organ solo midway through, with Winwood attacking his keyboard with
Vanilla Fudge-like intensity, this doesn't save the
song from being weak and overly long. "Blind Man" is in
the same vein, but with no redeeming organ solo. Both recordings
seem tacked on and are rather dull compared to the liveliness on
side one. This album was the last by the original band. And even
though it's a swan song, it's a VERY NICE ALBUM. The live tracks,
as mentioned, don't match the studio songs but are still listenable.
For side A, "Last Exit" gets five out of five stars, but
take back one star for side B. Still, four out of five ain't bad
at all.

This
album is the one and only incursion on vinyl (7inch apart) by the
UK cult band of the eighties above all. The ultimate psychedelic
experience was recorded live at Club Dog (The Robey), London in
March '89, during a reunion show. This record is dangerous: repeated
listenings drive to addiction...

For
an unsuspecting chemically fuelled punter to be present at a Treatment
gig without being warned could mean being thrust into a world of
sheer demonic terror never to be forgotten as frontman Gordon
Leach went about his insane business and to witness this at Alice
In Wonderland, with all its strange decor and wild looking punters
is something else.
Often shocking audiences with the sheer aggression and power,
bedecked in orange boilersuits and leather flying helmets and goggles,
drop kicking and impaling plastic heads on the spikes of a star
shaped guitar...........no good for your head if its already in
a fragile state.
This legendary gig at Alice In Wonderland on 12th November 1984
was one of The Treatments finest perfromances and there are no gaps
in the set list here, all the best maniacal, sinister Treatment
tracks are present here in mind warping glory. From The Doctors
inimitable introduction opens the classic Thunderbirds, there follows
some classic material with the best tracks being Nothing Head, Doncha
Know? and of course Stamp Out Mutants. This tape is an out of control
nitro breathing monster set to number 11 and taking no prisoners.
The last word in awesome, in your face psychedelic chaos???...........you
have been warned!!
You will not find a more visceral and genuinely psychedelic band.

On
the Last Ride, We Have Passed Away, Black Door, The New Word, Son
of the Morning, Short Order Steward, The Narrow Gate, Fly Baby.
CD reissue bonus tracks: You're the Woman, It's Not Good, Family
Song, Times and Seasons, Sunday the Third.

Review:

This
album has some great positives but also a few negative points. The
lyrics are a bit apocalyptic and even doom laden and sometimes you
wish they didn't quite preach so much ("the world needs moral
heroes" - really?).
Strangely enough, the singing reminds me of the Chocolate Watchband's
vocals on 'One Step Beyond', floating and harmonious, but slightly
strained. The guitar and keyboard pyrotechnics, however, are a delight
to hear. The opener 'On the Last Ride' is a prime example - superb
duelling guitars with plenty of wah-wah - but the lyrics, quoted
on the sleeve, set the moralistic tone of much of the album. The
country flavour on some tracks is a little out of place, but again
the saving grace is the excellent guitar playing. The sleeve notes
(reproduced from Vernon Joynson's "Fuzz, Acid and Flowers",
the encyclopaedia of psychedelic music) say this album "is
essentially what the world was hoping 'Shady Grove' would be!" I wouldn't totally agree, but 'Fly Baby' is a fine example of the
Quicksilver style and the outstanding track of this collection.
Almost as brilliant is 'Family Song,' an eight-minute progressive
symphony with superb keyboard and guitar
jams inserted into a cohesive and downright enjoyable extravaganza.
You can get this one on the superb 5th Pipe Dream album as well
(if you can find it), which includes unsung heroes Indian Puddin
'n' Pipe. There's super blues riffing on 'Son of the Morning' as
well. Not clever, but effective. But tracks like 'Short Order Steward'
will have you reaching for the fast-forward button.

A perplexing album - great instrumental play, depressing lyrics
and singing, and, I almost forgot, blinding cover!